Bernard Grech said on Sunday he will not be intimidated by “threats of imprisonment” and will not stop fighting to recover the defrauded funds in the now defunct hospitals' deal in the public interest.   

"We will not let anyone intimidate us. They (the government) are trying to use the institutions to intimidate us and threaten us with prison, because when they say I gave false testimony, they want to shut me up,” the PN leader said. 

On Friday, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said  Grech is willing to strategically misguide the courts and give false testimony for his own ends. But at no point did he mention prison.

“They (the PN) want to use the courts for political and populist purposes,” he said, Attard had said.

He added the government is safeguarding the national interest through international arbitration. 

Speaking on NET FM, Grech said his testimony was based on well-known facts.  

“The Labour government is an accomplice in the hospitals' fraud,” Grech said. 

And if prime minister Robert Abela silenced the institutions, the PN “will not be complicit,” Grech said.  

He said the PN will look out for the interests of the Maltese people who were defrauded in the deal.  

The PN leader alluded that it was cabinet ministers who breached the oath they had taken to loyally serve the country.  

“They took an oath to loyally fulfil their duties towards the constitution without fear or intimidation but were and are more interested in helping the corrupt and those who committed fraud than the Maltese people,” Grech said.  

on Tuesday, Grech and PN MP Adrian Delia took the State Advocate to court, arguing he had to recover the defrauded funds in the now defunct hospitals' deal in the public interest. 

They argued that, as “the last man standing in our constitutional system” the State Advocate is empowered and duty-bound to take action against present and past government officials involved in the deal.  

Replying to the opposition, the State Advocate said the case was “an abuse of the judicial process from start to finish”.  

A first hearing is scheduled for January.